Cerf, who is a vice-president and internet evangelist at Google, told that was not a shock to him.

"[Changes in executive structure] will slim down the decision-making process, so that there's more specific authority placed in the various senior executives, so they'll be able to make decisions without necessarily having a collaborative discussion," Cerf said. "I think that will speed things up."

Though Schmidt will step down as chief executive from Google in April this year, he will remain as a close advisor to co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Though his motives are not yet clear, some have speculated .

According to , Schmidt conceded in 2009 that Page and Brin had acquired both Android -- the company's popular mobile operating system -- and Keyhole -- which formed the basis of Google Earth -- without telling the CEO.